1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knitting method for forming a connecting part of a knitting fabric in an overlapped state, such as a fly of a polo shirt or pleats of a skirt, by the use of a flat knitting machine having at least a pair of front and back needle beds, either or both of which are arranged movable leftward and rightward and each of which mounts thereon compound needles each comprising a needle proper having a hook at a top end thereof and a slider having a tongue composed of two thin plates, the needle proper and the slider being each arranged individually movable forward and backward so that a stitch loop can be retained in the hook of the needle proper as well as on the tongue of the slider.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the earlier application (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10(1998)-111842 (which corresponds to EP 0 881 314)(Title: "A method for holding a stitch loop"), the applicant previously disclosed the knitting in which a stitch loop is held in the hook of the needle proper as well as on the tongue of the slider (hereinafter it is sometimes referred to as "the stitch-loop-holding knitting"). One example of a compound needle of the flat knitting machine for use in the stitch-loop-holding knitting is illustrated in FIG. 10, and the principle of the stitch-loop-holding knitting is illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12. As shown in FIG. 10, a needle proper 51 of the compound needle has a hook 53 at a top end thereof and has at the rear side of the hook 53 a slider-receiving groove 57 receiving therein a slider 55 and supporting the slider 55 in such a manner as to be movable back and forth in the sliding direction of the needle proper. The slider 55 comprises two combined thin plates 55a, 55b of substantially the same configuration and is accommodated in the slider-receiving groove 57 formed in the needle proper. The slider 55 is provided, at an end portion thereof, with a tongue 59 capable to advance to a position beyond the hook 53 of the needle proper. The needle proper 52 and the slider 55 are provided with control butts 61, 63 in protruding relation from the needle groove, respectively. The control butts 61, 63 are controllably moved forward and backward via control cams (not shown) provided on a carriage that travel over the needle beds, to operate the compound needles 51 to effect a desired knitting.
FIG. 10B shows a state in which the slider 55 is further advanced beyond the hook 53 of the needle proper 52. FIG. 10C is an enlarged view of a top end part of the advanced slider, and FIG. 10D is a plan view thereof. When the tongue 59 of the slider 55 is advanced beyond the hook 53, the end of the two-ply tongue is separated and expanded into 59a, 59b by the end of the hook 53. Then, the tongue in this state is further advanced, so that a stitch loop 71 on the tongue 59 is pushed up to a position over a trick gap to be guided to a transferring position or a holding position. In transferring the stitch loop, the hook of the needle proper of the compound needle on an opposed needle bed (not shown) which is on the loop receiving side is inserted into the stitch loop 71 retained on the tongues 59a, 59b of the expanded slider 55 to receive the stitch loop 71 in the hook. In holding the stitch loop, the compound needle on the opposed needle bed is moved forward, with the hook closed by the end of the hook and the tongue of the slider being abutted with each other, so that the stitch loop 71 retained on the tongues 59a, 59b is received on the tongue of the slider.
In the following, the steps for the stitch loop to be held onto the needle on the opposed back needle bed from the front needle bed will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. In the step A, which shows a state of the needle beds immediately before the holding of the stitch loop, the opposed compound needles 51f, 51b on the front and back needle beds FB, BB retain stitch loops 75f, 75b in the hooks, respectively.
In the step B, the needle proper 52f of the compound needle on the front needle bed FB is moved forward to guide the stitch loop 75f retained in the hook 53f to a position on the tongue 59f of the slider. In the subsequent step C, the slider 55f is moved forward and also the needle proper 52f is moved backward, so that the stitch loop 75f is pushed up to the position over the trick gap, with its retained on the tongue 59f of the slider, to guide the stitch loop to the holding position.
In the step D, the needle 51b on the receiving side is moved forward, with the hook closed by the end of the hook 53b and the end of the tongue 59b of the slider abutted with each other, so that it is made to go into the tongue 59f of the slider separated and expanded by the hook of the needle on the receiving side so as to penetrate into the stitch loop 75f retained on the tongue.
In the subsequent step E, the slider 55f of the needle 52f on the front needle bed as moved forward to the holding position is moved backward, so that the loop 75f is moved from the slider of the needle of the front needle bed FB and held on the tongue 59b of the slider of the needle 51b of the back needle bed BB.
Then, in the step F shown in FIG. 12, the needle proper 52b and the slider 55b of the needle 51b on the back needle bed BB receiving the loop 75f are moved backward to a position as illustrated. The slider 55b in this position prevents the held stitch loop 75f from falling off from the end of the tongue 59b. As a result, the needle 51b of the back needle bed BB comes to retain in the hook 53b the stitch loop 75b as was therein and also retain on the tongue 59b of the slider the stitch loop 75f which has just received thereon.
While the stitch loop 75f is in its held state, the needle 51f of the front needle bed FB freed from the retaining of the stitch loop can be engaged in the subsequent knitting of the knitting fabric to permit a new knitting of the knitting fabric, for example.
Next, the return of the as-held stitch loop will be described below. The return is performed in the following steps which are similar to the steps for the ordinal transference of the stitch loop. First, in the step G, the slider 55b of the needle 51b on the back needle bed BB is moved forward up to a loop-receiving position, so that the stitch loop 75f is pushed up to the position over the trick gap. Then, in the step H, the needle 51f on the front needle bed FB is made to go into the tongue 59b of the slider, with the hook open, to penetrate into the stitch loop 75f retained on the tongue. After that, in the steps I and J, the needle 51b on the back needle bed BB holding thereon the stitch loop 75f is moved backward to transfer the stitch loop 75f back to the needle 51f on the front needle bad FB and also move the each needle backward. As a result of this, the needles 51f on the front needle bed FF and the needle 51b on the back needle bed BB are return to their original state of each retaining therein the stitch loop 75f, 75b.
The stitch loops may be held on the needles on one needle bed from the needles on the other needle bed directly, as mentioned above, or may alternatively be held on by way of transfer jacks in a flat knitting machine having a transfer jack bed, as disclosed by Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10(1998)-111842 (EP 0 881 314).
Thus, the term of "the holding" of the stitch loop and a similar terminology used in the description is not merely intended to mean a common "transference" of the stitch loop into a hook of the other needle. In the common transference of the stitch loop, if the needle on the receiving side already retains a stitch loop therein, then double stitch loops will be formed in the hook of the needle without being separated. In contrast to this, in the holding of the stitch loop, the needle on the receiving side separates the received stitch loop from the stitch loop held in the needle itself so that the stitch loop held in the needle itself and the received stitch loop can be held in the hook of the needle proper and on the tongue of the slider, respectively.
Studies have been made hitherto on a knitting method, which is called "an integral knit", for knitting a knitting fabric with a collar, a pocket and the like on the flat knitting machine, with the aim of eliminating or lessening the need of a post handling after completion of the knitting when a knitting fabric is knitted by use of the flat knitting machine. In Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7(1995)-111021 (which corresponds to EP 0 455 395 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,492), the applicant discloses the method of forming pleats in a waist region of a knitwear, such as one-piece garment or a skirt, on the flat knitting machine as a method of the integral knit. This publication discloses a method of knitting pleats in knitwear comprising the steps of: knitting a succession of surface knitted sections, fold-back knitted section and overlap knitted sections; removing the fold-back knitted sections from the corresponding needles after fastening of thread ends; transferring the surface knitted section and/or the overlap knitted section to vacant needles from which the fold-back knitted sections were previously removed, so that the ends of the surface knitted sections and the overlap knitted sections are located adjacent to each other; loading a succession of the surface, overlap, and surface knitted sections onto the array of needles on one of the needle beds; after racking the other needle bed in a direction opposite to the fold-back direction of the fold-back section so that one of the overlap knitted sections and the surface knitted sections form overlapping regions, loading the overlap or surface knitted section onto the knitting needles of the other needle bed; after racking the other needle bed in a direction of the surface knitted sections and the overlap knitted sections being overlapped with each other, overlapping the overlap section with the surface section through stitch transferring; and binding the overlapped regions in pleats.
According to the knitting method disclosed by JP Patent Publication No. Hei 7(1995)-111021 above, needles on one of the front and back needle beds are used for the knitting of a knitwear and, accordingly, vacant needles on the opposed needle bed can be used for transferring the stitch loops transversely, and as such can allow the knitting fabrics knitted in the adjoining regions to be overlapped with each other in front and back. However, when all the front and back needles are required to be used for knitting a knitwear in the knit structure including a double jersey stitch structure, such as a Milano-rib structure, a full-rib-knit structure, a 2.times.1 rib structure, or a tubular structure, there exist no empty needles available for the transference of stitch loops, for the reason of which the pleats can no longer be formed by the method disclosed by JP Patent Publication No. Hei 7(1995)-111021. Thus, according to the known knitting method, since the transference of stitch loops in the transverse direction cannot be permitted for a knitwear knitted in the knit structure including the double jersey stitch structure, when the knit structure including the double jersey stitch structure is formed, neither the pleats mentioned above nor a fly of a polo shirt formed by two separately knitted fabrics being partly overlapped with each other.